Re-enlistment during captivity?

[lupaglupa]

My gr-gr-grandfather was taken prisoner at Fort Donelson and sent to Camp Morton. He was there until October 18th, according to the records I have. I also have a record showing he re-enlisted in the CS Army September 24th. How is it possible that he could re-enlist while imprisoned?

 

[Lampasas Bill]

Perhaps he was imprisoned with a superior officer from his regiment who could have accepted his reenlistment and later officially reported it after they were released? He may not have been the only one from his unit who did so.

 

[rpkennedy]

His reenlistment may have been backdated. I've seen that before.

Ryan

 

[lupaglupa]

I haven't looked at who was at Camp Morton with him. Since officers were usually sent to separate facilities from enlisted men I'm guessing there wasn't a superior officer there. Back-dating would make sense. Maybe that was a way to make sure he got pay for the time he was in prison.

 

[rpkennedy]

I haven't looked at who was at Camp Morton with him. Since officers were usually sent to separate facilities from enlisted men I'm guessing there wasn't a superior officer there. Back-dating would make sense. Maybe that was a way to make sure he got pay for the time he was in prison.

Were there other reenlistments at the time of his (possibly backdated) reenlistment? It's possible it was to keep him with his cohorts so that he wasn't left behind when their term of service was up.

Ryan

 

[lupaglupa]

Were there other reenlistments at the time of his (possibly backdated) reenlistment? It's possible it was to keep him with his cohorts so that he wasn't left behind when their term of service was up.

Ryan

Interesting thought. I should be able to check that.

 

[rpkennedy]

Interesting thought. I should be able to check that.

I brought it up because that was something that I've sort of seen before. In the 16th New York, about a dozen young men who signed up in the rush to the colors in May 1861, informed Colonel Davies when the regiment arrived in Albany that they were homesick and wanted to go home. They were sent back, apparently without criticism from their comrades, but every single man returned to the regiment by that September with their "reenlistments" backdated to their original term of service as if their service was uninterrupted and so their term would expire with the rest of their friends. One of those that went home and then returned was my great x4 uncle. He served out his enlistment having been wounded once, would muster out with the 16th in May 1863, would reenlist that autumn as a first sergeant in the 14th New York Heavy Artillery, and was killed in one of the first assaults by the Army of the Potomac at Petersburg.

Ryan

 

[Zella]

This is a really interesting thread--it had never occurred to me that someone could re-enlist in captivity, but the theories presented here make sense!